


In the Rubble

by miss_aligned



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, F/M, One Shot, Post-Mass Effect 3, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7507564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_aligned/pseuds/miss_aligned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The end of the war proves to be a little too much for Shepard and the crew of the Normandy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Rubble

Dust and the smell of smoke hung heavily in the air as they’d begun the arduous task of finding a needle in a haystack. Finding one person among countless corpses and mountains of debris was hopeless, but still they pressed on. Despite utter exhaustion, a select few of the Normandy’s crew were driven to continue, probably until they could no longer function. All for the loyalty, respect, and love of one Commander Shepard.

Garrus sighed heavily, taking a moment to try and check his malfunctioning omni-tool one more time. It was beyond frustrating that it wasn’t working properly, at a time when he needed it the most. Liara walked ahead, her face a calm veneer over what he knew to be barely contained panic. In the quiet of her passing and him staring in frustration at the broken device attached to his arm, he heard the faintest of rustles off to his right.

The turian’s head immediately snapped over in the direction from which the sound had come. His eyes roved over the pile of debris, wondering if what he’d heard had been merely a figment of his imagination. But then, just as he was about to look away and follow after Liara, a twisted metal beam trembled, as though something or someone under it was struggling to push it aside.

That was all the confirmation Garrus needed to close the distance and begin digging. “Liara,” he called aloud as he frantically began to peel back the layers of destruction to find the poor soul under it all. How someone might have survived after all this time and while trapped under all of this refuse was beyond comprehension, as far as he was concerned, but he intended to help them get out. It wasn’t until he revealed an armored limb adorned with a very distinctive red and white stripe that he truly felt the strange mix of dread, hope, and despair well up from somewhere deep in his core. “It’s her! She’s here!” With renewed strength and determination, he began lifting and tossing aside the charred wreckage that pinned the commander to the ground.

“Goddess!” Liara leaped in to help, clearly recognizing the armor as well. As they moved, her eyes locked firmly on the places that the armor didn’t cover. The injuries were severe. Skin was broken, there was copious bruising and blood loss, exposed cybernetics didn’t appear to be functioning any longer, much like the majority of their equipment. There was no doubt, however, that they’d just found Shepard.

“We’ve found her!” Garrus called out over his poorly-functioning comms. When static crackled in response, he growled again at his omni-tool. He couldn’t send out their coordinates. “We headed west of the drop point. Probably… two-hundred meters or so.”

While Garrus called in the rest of the search teams, Liara went to work on assessing the fallen Spectre. Her breathing was shallow, but the fact that she was breathing at all given everything she’d been through seemed to give the asari hope that everything would be alright. She applied medigel to the gaping wound at the commander’s abdomen. Shepard was already very pale, and her vitals were weak at best. Until they could get Dr. Chakwas here or get her to a fully-functional hospital, they were simply going to have to patch up what they could and pray.

Garrus deployed a makeshift beacon for the others. It was little more than a portable light that made a pinging noise, but it was the best they could do, given their situation now in the aftermath of the Reaper war. Once that was done, he settled in on Shepard’s opposite side to try and help where he could.

“I should have known you’d survive, Shepard. We need to get you cleaned up and out of here. I’m sure there are plenty of victory parties that you’re expected to attend.” His joking was only betrayed by the subtle waver in his voice as he looked her over. Flesh had been blown away and she was sitting in a pool of her own blood. Still, her eyes fluttered open and she looked upon her two rescuers with admiration. “Can you fix her, doctor?”

“I’m not that sort of doctor, Garrus,” Liara answered without looking in the turian’s direction. Her focus was completely on Shepard, trying to slather medigel where it could be useful without causing the woman any more damage. “At this point, I think your calibrations would do more good than I can.” She gestured at the exposed and non-functional cybernetics.

Their comms crackled and a broken transmission interrupted their evaluation.

“…ease… lmost there… alive?”

Garrus got up to respond while Liara continued whispering words of comfort to the broken human. “Kaidan. She’s alive. Get here quickly. It…” he turned away, hoping that Shepard couldn’t hear him over the pinging of the beacon and the asari at her side. “It doesn’t look good. She’s fading.”

“No! Pl… eep her…”

“We’re trying. Hurry.” When the turian knelt down again at Shepard’s side, Liara looked at him with a tragic expression. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. There was no way that this was happening. They couldn’t be watching as the infamous Commander Shepard slipped away from them again. She deserved the happy ending she’d strived so hard to provide for everyone else.

Liara took to her omni tool which was, of course, not functioning very well. She hissed in frustration as she typed out the name ‘MIRANDA’ and went about trying to establish contact or send a message or do anything with copious amounts of broken technology. Garrus understood what she was attempting. Only the woman who had led Project Lazarus was going to have the answers or potential for pulling off a miracle one more time. The trick was getting in touch with her before it was too late.

“…ive her… comms… me speak… her…” Kaidan’s voice was heavy with desperation as he hobbled ever closer to their location.

Shepard’s heavily lidded eyes locked on Garrus as he moved to disconnect his comms from his suit so that he could bestow them on her. “The radios aren’t working so well, Shepard, but Kaidan is on his way. He wants to talk to you.”

A feeble, shaky hand lifted and settled on his arm, stilling his movements. He looked at her questioningly, and she gave him an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Garrus instead wrapped his hands around hers, quietly accepting what he understood to be her final command for him. He felt her fingers squeeze reassuringly as they both turned their attention to the asari.

Shepard’s other hand lifted, pointing shakily to her temple, then to Liara. Garrus looked back and forth between the two while the asari tried to understand what was being communicated. She tilted her head questioningly as she made the connection. “You want me to… join minds? There’s something you want to show me?”

Shepard’s head moved ever-so-slightly in a subtle nod as her lids closed and she waited.

Liara glanced to Garrus, who offered her a reassuring nod of his own. If this was what she wanted, then there was no reason he could see to deny her a dying wish.

The turian attempted to distract himself with thoughts of how he might be able to pull Shepard out of this dire situation with any sort of success. He racked his brain trying to determine the best way to get medical professionals to their location as quickly as possible to pull her back from the brink. As Liara’s eyes darkened and they all fell silent, he concentrated on the squeeze of Shepard’s hand in his own and the pinging noise of the beacon. Anything that could keep him from dwelling on the fact that his dearest friend was dying at his side was a welcome distraction.

It was only as her hand slowly went limp that he turned his attention back to the situation right in front of his face. Liara nearly fell over with the effort of what she’d just done, and there were tears already streaming down her face before the darkness washed away from her eyes.

“Did she just…” Garrus didn’t have the strength to finish his question. The words would couldn’t seem to get around the lump in his throat.

“I’ve… I’ve never…” Liara whispered, staring down at Shepard as though looking at a ghost. “The connection was severed.”

A long silence passed between them as they stared down at the now very tranquil body of their friend. Garrus still held her hand and stared with disbelief at what he knew he’d just witnessed, but couldn’t find the power to admit to himself. “Did she show you anything?”

“She showed me exactly what happened after she ran for the beam.” Liara choked out between silent sobs. “She showed me what the catalyst was, the choice she had to make, and what she was thinking when the crucible fired. She… she told me to use the information wisely, but not to get lost in it as the Shadow Broker. I’m afraid it’s going to take me a while to process it all, but she wants me to use my network and connections and information to help all of our people recover from the decision she had to make since she couldn’t handle the consequences on her own this time.”

Garrus dipped his head in thought, tearing his gaze from the very pale visage of his fallen friend. He couldn’t quite release her hand just yet, but he was, in his own way, attempting to let go.

“She said she was going to save you a seat. I hope you know what that means, because I don’t understand.” Liara said, furiously wiping the tears from her face.

“Yeah…” Garrus said, his voice faltering. As many comrades as he’d seen fall in his time, he’d never felt a loss quite like this before. Even the first time Shepard died, he’d been able to understand and rationalize the events. This, however, felt final. Peace had finally come as a result of all of their hard work and sacrifice. She deserved better than to die in agony, suffering and crushed in rubble.

A glimmer caught their attention in the distance. Both Liara and Garrus glanced up, hearing labored breathing and catching sight of a shimmer of blue. James was all but carrying Kaidan to their location, and it was clear that the latter was already on the verge of losing control. His biotics swirled fiercely around him, but James didn’t waver. He carried the ailing Major forward as if his life depended on it.

“Oh, God,” Kaidan whispered as he caught sight of the dark form resting between Liara and Garrus. “She’s not…”

“I’m so sorry, Kaidan,” Liara said between sniffles as she tried to gather her strength. “She… she didn’t want you to see this a second time.”

“She’s not.” Kaidan said as he dropped down next to Shepard’s face. “She’s not. She wouldn’t.” His tears fell on her cheeks, mingling with the dirt and blood already lingering there. His gaze slid across her body, seemingly recognizing that no human would have lived through what she apparently had, and that the fact that she did for so long until this point had been unfathomable.

James stared, wide-eyed, in disbelief. He stood back, obviously intending to allow the others that had been closer to the commander their chance to grieve before he paid his respects.

Kaidan pulled her limp form into his lap, one arm across her torso while the other cradled her head as he sobbed desperately into space between her shoulder and neck. His biotics exploded outward as his typically iron resolve shattered. He didn’t seem to care who knew that he’d just broken, that this war had taken everything from him. He rocked her gently, like it would wake her from sleep, whispering _you’re not_ repeatedly as though he could make the wish come true.


End file.
